COVID-19

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville city officials on Friday closed the City Hall building for a deep cleaning after an employee tested positive for COVID-19, City Manager Matt Huffaker confirmed. The employee is now self-isolating and under medical care, Huffaker said.  All employees that were in direct contact with the...

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday is expected to announce the closure of all beaches and state parks starting Friday, multiple national news agencies reported late Wednesday night. The news comes days after Gov. Newsom expressed concern over numerous photos of people crowding beaches throughout the...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Gov. Gavin Newsom on May 14 released an updated state budget that calls for a 10 percent cut to school districts across the state. Pajaro Valley Unified School District Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez said that the district is looking at a $19.18 million slash. Watsonville/Aptos/Santa...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—California health officials on Tuesday moved Santa Cruz County into the less restrictive “Moderate” or Orange tier, meaning that several businesses can reopen and welcome in more customers. The move means that the county is seeing 1-3.9 new cases per 100,00 in population....

By Ford Kanzler, Special to the Pajaronian The pandemic and the business closures that have come with it have hit many Watsonville residents hard. Two local institutions have stepped up to soften the blow. After schools closed in mid-March of last year, Pajaro Valley Unified...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Community Bridges and Salud Para La Gente are joining forces in order to help individuals looking to get an appointment for the Covid-19 vaccine.  Through Community Bridges’ (CB) bilingual Bridges to Access Vaccine Helpline and Salud Para La Gente’s vaccination clinics, the agencies...

The June 15 reopening date set by California Gov. Gavin Newsom will now mark another pandemic milestone: the day many Californians can go without masks in most settings. California’s Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly on Monday told reporters the state will continue...

At midnight, it became official: California is open. Of course, the coronavirus pandemic isn’t over, and life isn’t back to the way it was before most of us had heard of the mysterious, deadly illness we now call Covid-19. But the lifting of nearly all of...

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that it is temporarily stopping jail tours, screening those being brought to the main jail and stopping contact visits at all facilities. The move is in response to the declaration of local health emergency by the...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville Film Festival (WFF) announced Wednesday that it will be cancelling its 2020 festival, which was scheduled to start tomorrow and run through Sunday. A letter from WFF Executive Director Consuelo Alba and the Board of Directors said that the festival has been cancelled...